Rituals of Restlessness

by Yaghoub Yadali, Sara Khalili (translator)

Engineer Kamran Khosravi wants to die in a car accident.

Or he at least wants it to look that way. His professional life in the Iranian hinterlands is full of bureaucratic drudgery - protecting dams, for example, from looters. His wife Fariba can no longer stand it, and has left him to rejoin her family in Isfahan. She is anxious for him to choose a life with her, or to let her go and persist with things as they are. But Kamran’s issues run deeper than anybody imagines.

Rituals of Restlessness won the 2004 Golshiri Foundation Award for the best novel of the year and was named one of the ten best novels of the decade by the Press Critics Award in Iran. However, in 2007 Yaghoub Yadali was sentenced to one year in prison for having depicted an adulterous affair in the novel. Rituals of Restlessness and his short story collection Sketches in the Garden have been banned from publication and reprint in Iran. This book is the first for Phoneme Media’s City of Asylum Imprint, which showcases books by current and former writers‐in‐residence at the Pittsburgh‐based nonprofit.

Genres: Iran, Fiction

162 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 2016

Reviews

[John Darnielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fine and subtle book that reminded me, a little, of the French "new novel" in structure: the reader is left to draw connections, form conclusions, put the pieces together. I like books in which the consequences of a single action are more important than a thrilling sequence of entertaining actions*, so this book, in which a man does something that requires him to begin a new life, is directly in my wheelhouse.
*I like plenty of books where lots of exciting stuff happens, too, this isn't an "either/or": I just don't require a lot of action to really enjoy a book, and I love books where the pace of life feels true.

[Rachel Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for the Around the World Reading Challenge for the month: Iran. New to me to read an Iranian piece of literature (and a controversial one, so the cover tells us) and I hope it's not my last from the country.

I actually really enjoyed this slow work. It forces you to face questions about "getting away from it all" and what kind of person you would be if no one was watching. I will be thinking about the ending for a while, wondering what exactly it is supposed to communicate. Someone else needs to read this so I can hear their opinion. :)

I can see myself returning to this one some day, especially considering how slim it is (172pp).

[Tonymess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depending upon your internet enquiry, you will either believe that Yaghoub Yadali is “widely published in Iran” (City of Asylum, where he was a writer-in-residence 2013-2015 or University of Iowa, where he was resident in 2012) or “banned from publication and reprint” (Words Without Borders). What is unquestioned is his novel “Rituals of Restlessness” (translated by Sara Khalili) receiving the 2004 Golshiri Foundation Award and being named one of the top ten best novels of the decade by the Press Critics Award in Iran. In 2007 Yaghoub Yadali was sentenced to one year in prison for having depicted an adulterous love affair in the novel. As you can see by his writer-in-residence placements above, he has subsequently moved to the USA and recently the controversial “Rituals of Restlessness” was released by Phoneme Media.

Phoneme Media, a not-for-profit publisher, have partnered with the Pittsburgh not-for-profit City of Asylum to publish a series of works, “Rituals of Restlessness” is the first. City of Asylum, in their own words, “creates a thriving community for writers, readers, and neighbors. We provide sanctuary to endangered literary writers, so that they can continue to write and their voices are not silenced. We offer a broad range of literary programs in a variety of community settings to encourage cross-cultural exchange.”

As the back cover of this novel explains, the plot is simple, Kamran is planning a car accident, he is to use an Afghan illegal immigrant as his body double, and disappear from his wife, his job, his tedious existence.

There was a banner: “Felicitations to our fellow countrymen on this pride-inspiring week of holy defense.” Every year there was a one-week celebration of the war with Iraq, during which kiss-asses, vying for promotions and more overtime pay, would wear their ill-fitting Basiji army uniforms and address each other as “brother” to demonstrate their enduring revolutionary spirit and their readiness for battle should America decide to attack Iran. Right! A firecracker would have them crawling into a hole, much less an attack by America

Blending flashback and present time narration, the tension of executing his plan and the reasons why Kamran is doing such slowly take shape. The smattering of information about the traditional Iranian upbringings of our protagonist (and his wife, and lover) is not too overbearing, you do not feel as though this is a condemnation of a culture, in fact in feels more like a celebration, a new world where tradition and modern values can co-exist.

For my full review go to http://messybooker.blogspot.com.au/20...

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Efficient writing, lurid plot, satisfying ending.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this one. Yaghoub Yadali plays with an unreliable narrator, time travel, and an all-knowing lover to create a masterful novella that thinks through the search for meaning in life. The main character, Kamran Khosravi (described by Hussein & Hamzavi as "nihilistic") wants to exist in "absolute freedom," away from the doldrum of his existence as an engineer with a wife he loves/hates. He stages his own death by killing an Afghan man in his place, a man "whose being or not being made no difference to anyone" (14). The commentary on the role of the "Afghan Other" in Iranian society is, throughout the novel, excellent in its searing cruelty. Reads as a parallel to discourses on "illegal immigrants" here in the U.S. We follow Kamran as he "kills himself," creates a new, alternate life, and then (!) goes back to his own life. So much room for interpretation and analysis here in terms of the book's form, its observations on traditionalism/modernity, human/animal, nature/urban life.
Hussein & Hamzavi, in their Asymptote review of the book, are unimpressed by the novel, but I found it to be a delight.
Really reminded me of The Good Son by Jeong Yu-Jeong.

[Madhuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author weaves us into this lurid tale of restless man and those he affects around him.
And while his character became so vivid as did those he met and interacted with, I never once really felt for him.

Maybe there was something of the meaning lost in translation or maybe I need to reread it to fully grasp the message but despite desperately trying, I could not find any deeper satisfaction gained from reading this book. I hope to try out some of his other works but my first opinion is that while I see potential, I was not intrigued by this book at all. But rather more so intrigued by the story of the exiled author behind it that I'd hoped to find something more in the pages I read.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is crazy because the first time I picked this up I did not finish it. But I just felt like trying it again and I’m very glad I did. Got swept up in it this time

This is written/translated in very photographic, matter-of-fact prose, and that style can be totally hit or miss for people. I love it thoughhhh…… if photographic prose has no fans then I am dead

Makes so much sense that the author is also a filmmaker

[Brian Berrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I didn’t find the book interesting, rather I found I didn’t care about the story or the characters. I found it pointless. I probably missed something but it didn’t work very well for me.

[Audrey Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

i feel like there was probably a lot going on that I didn't understand tbh.

[Dan Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into the is book. My feeling is that this tale was an allegory for the political/social situations in Iran at the time the author wrote it, but it simply went over my head. And to be honest, the sentence were written like sluglines - just stating the facts, but with little metaphor or prose.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book -- compelling, disturbing and very nicely written. Add this one to the backlog of books I'll come back to soon when time is once again my friend.